Charger girls take Sunset hoops title

Mike Sciacca, Independent

It has been said that defense wins championships, and that’s

exactly what the Edison High girls basketball team used to claim the 2000

Sunset League crown.

With a smothering defense that disrupted host Huntington Beach the entire

game Thursday, Edison wrapped up an outright title by routing the Oilers,

50-30, in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Chargers, who won the Sunset crown for the second consecutive year,

got a piece of the pie Tuesday with a win over Fountain Valley.

Edison won the league title with a 9-1 mark, one game in front of second

place Esperanza.

“It’s a great feeling to win back-to-back championships, winning both of

them outright,” said Edison Coach Dave White. “I thought we played great

defense once again, and when you play good defense, you’ll win most of

your games.”

The Chargers have a goal of limiting each opponent to under 40 points.

They easily achieved that magic number against the Oilers, who shot

miserably from the field.

In league play, White said, the Chargers (18-8 overall) held their league

foes to an average of 38 points per game.

Edison’s tenacity was led by guard Bianca Ziemann, who did a nice job of

holding the Oilers’ top scorer, Amy Sanders, in check.

The battle of the two sophomores was an intense one and Sanders, who

shoulders most of the Oilers’ offensive load, had to work hard for her 12

points.

She came into the contest with one of the county’s top scoring averages

at 23 points per game.

“Bianca did an awesome job on Sanders tonight,” White said. “That was a

big key for us; that, and the fact that we had such a great first

quarter. Other than that, we really didn’t shoot the ball well. We

haven’t been, really, all season.”

With forward Katy Monteleone hitting three, three-point shots in the

opening quarter, Edison bolted to a 16-7 lead. The Chargers went on a

12-0 blitz from the 2:21 mark of the first quarter until 4:27 was left on

the second quarter clock, to lead by as many as 15 points in the half,

but settled for a 26-19 lead at the break.

The Oilers (14-12, 5-5) stumbled out of the block in the first two

quarters, missing their first seven shots of the game, then their first

six attempts in the second period. Sanders was held to a single basket in

the second quarter, and that came on a jumper with 1:43 left in the half.

By then, Edison was well in control, and after Michelle Zylstra scored to

open up the third quarter, and Ashleigh Noda followed with at three-point

basket for a 31-19 one minute into the second half, all that was left in

doubt was the final score.

It was Noda’s follow shot midway through the fourth quarter that gave the

Chargers a 21-point cushion, 47-26 -- their largest lead of the night.

Zylstra, who came in averaging 16 points per game, scored 13. But the

senior post, who will play at Northwestern University next fall,

dominated the boards with 20 rebounds (15 on the defensive end), and six

blocked shots.

The performance capped a big week for Zylstra, who had with 22 rebounds

and six blocked shots in Tuesday’s romp past Fountain Valley.

In addition, Rachael Ziemann added seven rebounds and six assists for the

Chargers, who will host a CIF Southern Section Division I-A playoff game

on Feb. 19.

Huntington Beach also will be included in the upcoming playoff field,

despite dropping its final two games of the season. The Oilers had been

one of the league’s hottest teams heading into the final week of the

regular season, having knocked off Esperanza, Marina in overtime, then

Arroyo last Saturday in a nonleague matchup.

In a key Sunset League boys basketball game Thursday, host Los Alamitos

earned a share of the league title by beating Marina, 47-43, to end the

Vikings’ win streak at 16 games.

Marina, which beat Los Alamitos back on Jan. 21, and the Griffins both

ended league play with 9-1 records.

The Vikings enter next Friday’s playoffs with a 23-3 record.

In other boys action, Huntington Beach upended host Edison, 67-62, to

finish 2-8 in league and 5-21 overall. The loss left Edison in last place

with a 1-9 league mark, 8-16 overall.

Also, Esperanza (14-12, 6-4) finished league play in third place by

defeating Fountain Valley, 50-44. The loss ended the Barons’ season at

3-7 in league and 14-12 overall.